A few months after dismissing ticket sales staffers, the Heat are now the hottest ticket in Miami. In what's always been considered a football town, the Heat are hotter than perhaps ever before. A pair of courtside seats to the game against Orlando sold on StubHub.com for the whopping sum of $25,884, company spokesman Glenn Lehrman said. StubHub's data showed that the average price for any seat was $325.

Ray Allen and Paul Pierce scored 20 and 19 points, respectively, as the defending Eastern Conference champion Boston Celtics held off the new-look Miami Heat, 88-80, in arguably the most anticipated regular season opener in NBA history.

HoopsVibe’s Very Quick Call: It was supposed to be perfection. It was supposed to be poetry in motion. It was supposed to be unstoppable.

It is a work in progress.

This is the only way to describe the Miami Heat’s opening night loss against the Boston Celtics on Tuesday evening at TD Banknorth Garden.

The Heat, by their own admission, had an atrocious opening half, scoring 30 points. The second half was better; however, the Three Kings couldn’t complete the 19-point comeback because they ran out of energy against the well polished Celtics.

A few observations from game one:

• The Heat ran too many high pick-and-rolls, a set that depends on chemistry and timing. Of course, the Heat haven’t played together long enough to develop chemistry and timing.

Conversely, the Celtics are an elite defensive squad. They’ve played together for years. And they have defensive chemistry and timing –especially when guarding the pick-and-roll.

• The Heat need to improve spacing. Too often, they crowded each other. And too often, players were colliding.

• Dwyane Wade looked off. To be fair, he’s injured. But his on-going custody battle has, understandably, taken a toll.

• Eddie House, James Jones, and Mike Miller (when healthy) are living The Shooter’s Dream. With James and Wade, they only need to get open, catch the ball, and sink shots.

• James was rolling in the second half, so why did Coach Erik Spoelstra pull him in the fourth quarter? This, along with a late Ray Allen three-pointer, allowed the Celtics to seal the game.

Game one for The Three Kings is in the books. It’s too early to draw conclusions, but every game, quarter, and possession will be under the microscope.

He is in Chicago for the custody case involving his two young sons. The case will continue on Monday and it isn't known when Wade will be done testifying.

"What he's dealing with is way bigger than basketball," LeBron James said.

"So when he's ready to come back, when he's ready to return, we'll accept him with open arms, of course. We'll make sure we hold it down here. What he has going on, we're all in support, this whole organization, us as teammates, us as friends, us as a family."

HoopsVibe’s Very Quick Call: Of course, Carmelo Anthony wants a place he can win.

He just wants to win on his terms. This means playing out east, preferably for a sexy franchise, and with a superstar pal or two.

If winning was the be all and end all, Anthony would give greater consideration to staying put. After all, the Denver Nuggets qualified for the 2009 Western Conference Finals.

In Denver, he’d steer clear of Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, the Miami Heat, and the revamped Eastern Conference. In Denver, he has table-setter and former NBA Finals MVP in Chauncey Billups.

Separating fact from fiction is impossible with ‘Melo. On media day, he publicly stated he never asked the Nuggets for a trade -despite well-placed and reliable sources saying otherwise.

Anthony has also told reporters this is a ‘basketball decision’. MTV reporter and semi-celebrity LaLa Vasquez, Anthony's better-half, has a different take. She'd prefer a major market like New York or Los Angeles over Denver or Houston.

One conclusion can be made: Anthony gets it. He understands this is a public relations exercise. While he hasn’t handled things perfectly, he has been better than fellow superstar LeBron James.

So expect Anthony and his people to continue talking about 'winning' and 'basketball', even if it’s one part of where he ends up.
--Oly Sandor.
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Heat forward LeBron James sat out practice on Friday as a precautionary measure after injuring his hamstring earlier this week. James first felt pain on Tuesday night against CSKA Moscow. He sat out Wednesday's tilt with the Hornets and the Heat didn't practice on Thursday.

Heat guard Dwyane Wade will miss the team's final three preseason games because of a hamstring injury. Miami coach Erik Spoelstra said earlier this week that Wade was virtually pain-free, but the team wants to be cautious with the issue.

Popular opinion may be decidedly against LeBron James and his decision to hook up with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in some kind of Super Friends situation in Miami. Not Oakley.

“I love it. I think in the old days, you don’t win unless you get some right players to win with. You can say this and that about LeBron but Magic had Kareem, James Worthy, he had three or four hall of famers. Bird had three or four hall of famers. M.J. probably just had him and Scottie but when it was all said and done, you had great players around you to win.